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We should have seen this coming after Sony explained that the PlayStation 4 would not be natively backwards compatible with its predecessors. Yet today’s news from Sony Worldwide Studios that existing PlayStation Network (PSN) purchases won’t transfer to the PS4 is a devastating blow to Sony’s hype machine, and it’s deflated my enthusiasm for the next-gen console.

@killyourfm definition of insanity, buying the same game over and over again and expecting it to be the final time we have to buy it :(

Hours after Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 to an excited global audience, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida told Engadget that PSN titles purchased on the PlayStation 3 will not carry over to the PlayStation 4 when it releases this holiday season. While Sony has wisely adopted a standard x86 PC architecture for the its new game console (translation: developer friendly), the PS3 was driven by incompatible Power PC architecture from IBM.

They suggested as much during last night’s PlayStation meeting, leaving it to newly acquired cloud company Gaikai to save the day. Unfortunately, Gaikai’s opportunity to play the hero was marred by vague promises and loose timelines. The company’s intent is to bring PS3, PS2, and PS1 games to the PlayStation 4 via their streaming technology, but we have no idea how much progress has been made on that front. And it’s hard not to doubt that cloud-based gaming can be a quality experience — at least in the U.S., where average bandwidth is quite low.

This announcement is a gun aimed at Sony’s foot. While it’s purely anecdotal evidence, my Twitter feed this morning has erupted in anger, with statements like “this just made me cancel PS+” and “no sale.” Sony has gained serious goodwill for its PlayStation+ initiative, which grants gamers an instant game collection, discounts, and a growing library of titles for a nominal monthly fee. The catch is that when users unsubscribe from the program, all that content disappears.

Now, PlayStation+ is on a countdown timer, its appeal vanishing when the PS4 launches.

And even if Gaikai delivers on its promise of providing Sony’s back catalog, we have to assume that existing PSN purchases and thousands of hours worth of game saves still won’t make the jump to the next generation.

“This is also a major blow to digital distribution on home consoles. Why push digital sales if the games may not work on future hardware?”

This is a nail in Sony’s coffin that its marketing team needs to address immediately. Sure, Sony fired first in the next-gen console race, but now Microsoft may have a key advantage when it discusses the successor to the Xbox 360. Granted, that system also relies on a Power PC architecture.

Plus, with Apple and Valve both planning to take over living rooms, this isn’t a good start for Sony’s next-generation plans. Speaking of Valve and PC gaming, Sony’s x86 architecture and its modified PC GPU means that PC ports of console games are poised to look better than ever. Food for thought.

There is an argument that suggests some people wouldn’t want to port gigabytes worth of content to their new console. Let me counter with this: we live in a time where the argument shouldn’t even exist. I have 20 years worth of games on my Steam account, and if Sony hopes to compete with a PC market growing cheaper and more accessible, Gaikai will need to deliver its promises sooner than alter.

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Like so many others, I am cancelling my PS + account. I’ve paid for this premium service and Sony is now going to do a Premium Disservice to its loyal customers. I have nearly every gadget and doodad made for the PS3 (several hundreds of dollars) and they will be worthless with the new system. Thanks, Sony!!

PS+ will continue with the PS4 and still there’s still nearly a year left till the PS4 is launched and seeing that you get free games every month PS+ is a good service and is completely optional.

Regarding gadgets if you watched the conference yesterday the people at Media molecule were using the PS Move with the PS4 and seeing that the Move controller work I would infer that the dualshock 3 will probably be compatible with PS4 aswell since there won’t be any problem to connect the two together.

Um, isn’t this a bit of an overreaction? There are still a lot of question marks here as far as what Sony is planning and what Gaikai will be able to accomplish. I have to imagine Sony realizes it is in their best interest to try to honor people’s PS+ subscriptions. Well, that’s all I can say on the subject, I don’t own a PS3 but unless Xbox shines I’m getting a PS4 so it’s a bit of a moot point in my personal situation.

Apple and Valve entering the space certainly seem interesting but no one seems really clear on what exactly their plans are so unless they completely blow people out of the water, I don’t know how much of a “threat” they are at this current time. Of course, things can change, who knows what will happen? Let me put it this way, I don’t know about others but I have no intention of putting my console buying plans on hold waiting for Steambox or whatever Apple is planning.

My interest in console gaming has declined markedly over the years. This decision confirms my decision to stick with Valve/Steam, whose offerings are largely platform agnostic, Windows/Mac/Linux. Guys – I am buying entertainment, not any particular hardware or platform. Sony doesn’t seem to get that.

Oh no, its so hard to leave your old system plugged in, you act like PS3 is just going to go away. Sony vowed 10 years of continued support. I don’t see any reason to not just slide your PS3 over and put your PS4 next to it.

Why bother with PS4 when you lose your total investment in PS3. The move from PS2 to PS3 was gradual as the first PS3s backward compatable. However, most wanted the improved game quality of the PS3 over the PS2 making it worth the investment. I don’t see that here with the PS4. Most will move to PC games, myself included.

I get that saved games won’t be transferred. That has never been done without memory cards, and I don’t think that hard drive-based systems should be expected to do the same. PSN purchases, however, is definately a cause for alarm. If money is payed for a product, logic dictates that one should keep it. The customers and rep theyll loose over this will definately be more than it would cost to develope a transfer system

Funny how you claim PS+ is going to die, when Sony could very well make all PS3 game streaming via PS+ free. They also could stream PSN games that you have already bought free even if you didn’t have PS+, and could treat disc based games the same way. Put the disc in, thus proving ownership, and PS4 lets you stream your content without charge even without PS+. There are a number of ways Sony can go about handling this, and this article is doing nothing but jumping to conclusions based on a vague statement.